It is not the non-Parsis, but we Parsis who have not done justice to Dr Dada- bhai Naoroji ("The progressive patriot,” Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, June 21, 2017).
1992 was the centenary year of Naoroji’s entry into Parliament. In May 1992, the then British Prime Minister John Major wrote: "It is now a hundred years since Dadabhai Naoroji was elected as the first non-white member of the House of Commons...”
Soon thereafter, among those who contributed to the forming of the Dr Dadabhai Naoroji International Society were Major, Dr L. M. Singhvi and J. R. D. Tata with the full support of Homi J. H. Taleyarkhan and especially Dr Shyam Sunder Mohapatra, former member of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and ex general secretary, All India Congress Committee (I).
For one and a half decades he celebrated Naoroji’s birth anniversaries (on September 4) and death anniversaries (on June 30) in Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta by organizing large functions wherein presidents, prime ministers, chief ministers, governors and other top dignitaries participated. His son and other members of the Society continue the good work, as they did in June this year on his death centenary.
HOMAI N. MODI
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